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The 15 most awe-inspiring space images of the decade…
The field of astronomy this decade delivered an embarrassment of riches: stunning accomplishment after stunning accomplishment from the exploration of space. Humans sent robots to the farthest reaches of the solar system, to the sun, to the gas giant Jupiter, and more. Meanwhile, our telescopes peered deeper into the cosmos. They showed us images never seen before, like the first-ever image of a black hole, which was just declared to be Science’s “breakthrough of the year.” We put together our favorite astronomy images and videos from the 2010s, in no particular order. Some of these images are awe inspiring for their beauty, or their remoteness, or for helping us understand our tiny place in the universe. Others are awe inspiring for the engineering achievements they represent, and give ho...
On the Feast of the Holy Family, the biblical teaching on marriage and family…
It is not difficult to demonstrate that most of our modern problems center around struggles and misunderstandings regarding marriage, sexuality, and the family. Collectively as a nation and the culture, we have departed significantly from the teachings of God and common sense, when it comes to our thinking and behavior regarding these three fundamental pillars. Today’s Feast of the Holy Family presents us an opportunity to reflect, and provides a rich tapestry of Scriptures. Many of these teachings are not “politically correct,” but for that, no apology should be made. They remain God’s teachings and it is hard to argue that modern notions of sexuality, marriage and family have produced anything short of catastrophe and disaster. And as is usually the case, it is the children suffer the mo...
Pope Francis asks families to put down their phones on Holy Family Sunday…
Vatican City, Dec 29, 2019 / 05:30 am (CNA).- On feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth Sunday, Pope Francis encouraged families to get off their cell phones and talk to one another. “In your family, do you know how to communicate with each other, or are you like those kids at the table — each one has their own cell phone, chatting? In that table there is a silence as if they were at Mass, but they don’t communicate with each other,” Pope Francis said in his Angelus address Dec. 29. “We need to retake communication within the family: parents, children, grandparents and siblings must communicate with each other,” the pope said. “This is your assignment for today for the feast of the Holy Family.” Pope Francis said that the Holy Family is a model for families today in “following th...
As long as Catholics continue feasting, Christendom still exists…
What is a perennial truth if nothing other than a truth which springs up every year? We who are strangers and sojourners in the city of man, we who aspire towards citizenship in the city of God, we know that Christmas is all about celebrating Christ’s birth. All of Christian literature, all of the literature that celebrates or dimly shadows Christendom stands in testimony that Christendom is the Feast! Search your Homer. Search your Virgil. Sit with Beowulf at the mead-benches in Hrothgar’s Heorot or with Gawain at the halls of Arthur or King Bertilak. All of us, pilgrims proceeding to Canterbury know that our pilgrimage begins and ends with feasting! The culmination of Christendom is centered around the sacrum convivium, the sacred feast in which Christ Himself is ultimately consumed! And...
From Scrooge to the Grinch, Christmas conversions in classic Hollywood films…
Celluloid glimpses of the Glory of God, from Miracle on 34th Street to Home Alone 2. So I was talking to Matt Swaim on the Son Rise Morning Show about G.K. Chesterton’s great appreciation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and he mentioned that many Christmas-themed movies feature conversions like Scrooge’s: he brought up The Grinch Who Stole Christmas or The Grinch as an example, and It’s a Wonderful Life. But as Turner Classic Movies and other cable stations are showing movies with Christmas settings, I began to think of many more Christmas conversions — changes of heart, family reconciliations, and renewed hope brought about by the “spirit of Christmas.” Even all those Hallmark Channel Christmas movies are about some kind of conversion: from career ...
Muslim Jihadists claim execution of 11 blindfolded Christians in Nigeria…
ISIS-aligned jihadists have released a video claiming to show the execution of 11 blindfolded Christian men in Nigeria, in what analysts say was a barbaric act that was clearly timed to coincide with Christmas, according to reports. “This is a message to Christians all over the world,” a masked man says in the one-minute video posted online late Thursday by the terror group’s Amaq news agency. He claimed the killings at the hands of jihadists from the Islamic State West African Province were in retaliation for the death of ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his spokesman. Baghdadi committed suicide in October during a US special forces operation in Syria. No details were given about the victims, but ISIS said they were “captured in the past weeks” in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, ac...
Pope Francis on Christmas: Christ’s light is greater than the darkness of world’s conflicts…
Vatican City, Dec 25, 2019 / 05:30 am (CNA).- On Christmas, Pope Francis prayed for Christ to bring light to the instability in Iraq, Lebanon, Venezuela, Yemen, Ukraine, Burkina Faso, and other parts of the world experiencing conflict. “The Son is born, like a small light flickering in the cold and darkness of the night. That Child, born of the Virgin Mary, is the Word of God made flesh … There is darkness in human hearts, yet the light of Christ is greater still,” Pope Francis said from the center loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica Dec. 25. In his “Urbi et Orbi” blessing, Pope Francis said that the light of Christ is greater than the darkness of broken family relationships or the suffering endured in economic, geopolitical, and ecological conflicts. “May Christ bring his light to the many chi...
100 gallons of holy water blesses town via crop dusting plane in Louisiana…
We should do this everywhere! St. Anne Church of the Cow Island community in Abbeville, La., blessed their town and farms with 100 gallons of holy water with the help of a crop dusting plane. The Diocese of Lafayette posted several photos of the blessing on Facebook. They also wished readers a Merry Christmas. Here’s the post below: The full text reads, “Fr. Matthew Barzare and parishioners of St. Anne Church in Cow Island enlisted the help of a crop duster pilot to bless their community. They loaded 100 gallons of holy water into the plane and the pilot sprayed the water onto the town and the nearby farms. “Parishioners also brought water from home to the airstrip to be blessed by Fr. Barzare. The blessing was the brainchild of L’Eryn Detraz, a missionary currently stationed in Ohio who i...
Can the American casket duopoly — a main culprit behind the rise of cremation over Christian burial — be disrupted?
As Ben Franklin once quipped, death is one of the only certainties in life. And with that certainty comes an endless supply of customers. Every year, 2.8m people die in the US. Around 40% of them opt to be buried — most commonly, in a casket. A $550m-per-year business, caskets make up a healthy portion of the much larger $20B death industry. The market for burials has never been more flooded with options. You can now spend your post-life years buried in a bodysuit fashioned out of mushrooms, in a pod that turns you into a tree, or in an IKEA-style casket you assemble yourself. Whatever your post-mortem niche, there’s probably a startup for it. But despite this abundance of businesses, efforts to re-envision the casket industry have largely fallen flat. That’s because today, the vast majori...
Fatima to Vatican II: Mary, ‘Mother of the Church’ and our loving Mother…
A mosaic of Mary as Mother of the Church is seen above St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican in this April 13, 2011, file photo. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) The title of Mary, “Mother of the Church,” was officially promulgated alongside Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) in 1964. It was instituted by Pope Francis as a liturgical memorial only last year. Henceforth, it is celebrated the Monday after Pentecost Sunday. Its fixed structure in the liturgical calendar signifies Mary’s continued motherly mediation from heaven; that today she still gathers with us and calls down the Holy Spirit upon the mystical body of her Son. The establishment of this memorial, this lex orandi (law of praying), specifically renews the apostolic lex credendi (law of believing). Pope S...
Evangelize by example, not pushing your faith on others, says Pope…
Pope Francis Preaching in Madison Square Garden, September 25, 2015 (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Antoine Mekary / ALETEIA) Recently, Pope Francis answered questions from high school students and suggested they convert non-Catholics through their authenticity and example. In so explaining, he suggested they don’t push their faith on unbelieving students. This is generally a good, practical strategy. Unfortunately, some misread what he said. They read it just as not doing the latter without seeing the former. I want to point out what Francis said, then explain two points: practical evangelization and “proselytism.” The Pope’s Words To High School Students On Friday, December 20, Pope Francis visited Pilo Albertelli high school and took students’ questions. The Vatican only has the text in Italian, ...
Remember, life is about so much more than politics…
Musicians play during a ceremony to light the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C., December 4, 2019. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Remember, life is about so much more than politics. It was a week before Christmas and I found myself anxious and angry. I realized I was paying more attention to minute-by-minute politics than I had paid any other day of the year. It was Impeachment Day. I was seeing all kinds of “Impeachmas” references and merriment about the proceedings in the House. At the Mass I went to that day, the Franciscan friar prayed, without partisanship, about the “grave” matters in Washington. The priest called upon Saint Joseph to intercede so that there might be wisdom there. That seemed like a countercultural act of faith at a time of such cynicism. Advertisement Advert...
